DO YOU NEED A SMOKE ALARM OR A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR WE HAVE THEM FOR FREE - Contact Bob Faugh @ 533-1892

RUSH FIRE DISTRICT – RUSH FIRE DEPT. FEBRUARY – MARCH 

FIRE DISTRICT: The organizational meeting was held on January 2nd. Bob Faugh was elected as Chairman and Larry Meston was elected as vice-chairman of the Board of Fire Commissioners. Robert Kuhls was appointed as Treasurer and Karen Wanderslaben was appointed to the Secretary position. The Fire Commissioners meeting will be held the third Tuesday, 7 pm at station one. All of our meetings are open to the public. 

THE NYS HEALTH DEPT. After reviewing our records & procedures has re-certified our ambulance and EMS operation for another two years. The Rush Fire Department has been operating the ambulance since 1939.

FIRE DEPARTMENT AND AMBULANCE: The Chiefs and Asst. Chief were approved by the Board of Fire Commissioners and the line officers for the department were approved by the Board of Directors at their organizational meeting. See web site for complete list.  

ANNUAL REPORT: 

Total of 396 Fire & EMS Calls for 2011. That is a call every 22 hours.  We had one serious fire in our district last year with 25 members in attendance. We had no injury or deaths involved in any fires. We responded to 47 false alarms where there was no need for the fire department at all. (set off by accident, malfunctions, set off by occupant)   We had 44 good intent type alarms or calls for EMS  (where the system went off because of cooking or someone thought the FD was needed at a location for a car wreck for some other reason).  

PLEASE, if your system goes off call 9-1-1 and tell them what is going on. DO NOT RELY on your system alone to get a rapid response with adequate manpower. DUE TO THE 99.9% FALSE RATE WE HAVE A VERY POOR TURN OUT FOR THESE ALARMS WITHOUT A BACK UP CALL.  We still have an officer respond and confirm your information.  

Total Ambulance Calls 257 or 63% of our responses. The ambulance responded to 28 emergency scene stand bys. We provided 20 responses for mutual aid. We were cancelled on 9 of the mutual aid calls. We responded to 50 vehicle crashes.

We transported 120 patients with another 44 being transported by a full ALS/BLS ambulance usually from Henrietta. (22 of these were from the Rush Family Medical Office). We used an ALS “fly car” Medic on 100 calls. We cancelled ALS or the patient was released to BLS by ALS 14 times. Henrietta Ambulance provided 98% of our ALS both the fly car where the medic rode in our ambulance or they sent a full ambulance to transport the patient in 2011.

We had contact with 296 patients during the year, 38 refused treatment.   

Response times: Our average response time to get a properly equipped "first responder" EMT on scene of a priority type call was 5 to 6 minutes 90% of the time. This response time is exceptional. We have two "first responder" officer’s cars with AEDs. (automatic defribrillators).  Several others officers have basic life support equipment that respond to the scene.    

Donated time: Over 1,500 man/women hours were expended on these calls. All these hours were donated by your relatives, friends and neighbors. Another 3,000 hours were donated for training, seminars, drills, carnival, maintenance on equipment/ buildings and local, regional and state meetings.

 FUND DRIVE: We have received over $50,000 from the 2011 annual fund drive. Thank you very much! The per resident donation is unmatched ANYWHERE in western NY state. Over 70% of our residents donated.  

The money goes for general operations such as Fire Prevention, Girl/Boy Scouts and Explorer sponsorships, training/seminars, fire and EMS equipment, office costs and the rest into Rescue Truck and Ambulance replacement funds. We have a new $130,000 ambulance being built at this time. No fund drive money is ever used for our few social functions.

COMPUTER EMS RECORDS: We are now using a computerized system to keep our ambulance and EMS records. We are also going to purchase two heavy duty type lap top units for this system. We are splitting the cost (approx. $9,000) with the fire district taxpayers.  The Henrietta Ambulance ALS will have access to our data base and make it easier for them to provide care without asking the same questions the first responders have asked and if transported on a prior occasion the data will be available to both of us.  The a more detailed hospital care reports is now sent via internet to the receiving hospital.

BOY SCOUTS AND EXPLORERS:  

The Explorer Post will have a Pancake Breakfast at the fire house Sunday – February 19th starting at 10 am ending at 2 pm.

PLEASE: When you see ANY COLOR (amber, Blue, Red or Clear) flashing emergency lights on vehicles up ahead slow down and watch for direction from the fire police, sheriffs or troopers. YOU MUST CHANGE TO THE LEFT LANE IF SAFE TO DO SO of any highway with two or more lane in one direction and slow down when you approach any emergency vehicle with flashing lights on.

LADIES AUXILIARY:  ANNUAL ELECTION DAY DINNER was a success. Thank you to all who supported the auxiliary. They are looking for new members go to RushFD.org and click on auxiliary for information. 

Are you interested in being a volunteer firefighter or emergency medical technician? If you are - call 533-2058 and leave your name and number. You can down load an application from our web site and also see the benefits and obligations for a firefighter in the recruitment area of our web site. Boys and Girls 14 years old or older can join the Explorer post!